Royal Perth Hospital - Trauma Services

Royal Perth Hospital created Western Australia's first designated Trauma Services team in 2006.

RPH Trauma Registry Report
RPH has collected data on all trauma admissions since 1994 and publishes an annual report.

P.A.R.T.Y. Program
RPH runs an education program for young people (Prevent Alcohol Related Trauma in Youth), informing them about the consequences of risk-taking behaviour.

Trauma 2012 – Resuscitation to Rehabilitation
(co-hosted with the Australasian Trauma Society)
26th - 28th October in the Perth Convention Centre..more

Royal Perth Hospital is the designated provider of major trauma services in Western Australia, treating approximately 80 per cent of the State's major trauma cases (as of 2010).

The Trauma Service is led by Dr Sudhakar Rao and provides state-of-the-art emergency trauma and critical care for complex injured patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

More than 5000 trauma patients are admitted annually, with over 500 of these patients classed as "major trauma".

In 2009, RPH was proud to achieve formal Level 1 Trauma Verification from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. This multi-collegiate accreditation acknowledges comprehensive quality care against consensus standards.

As implementation of the WA Trauma Services and Systems plan progresses, the trauma service at RPH continues to expand accordingly.

A multidisciplinary Trauma Service has been established, with a focus on improved outcomes and quality patient care. The 30-bed State Major Trauma Unit (SMTU) was opened in February 2008. The transitional concept of this unit allows the consolidation of complex, multi-trauma patients into a single, dedicated area that facilitates improved coordination and management of these multi-specialty patients during the acute phase of their trauma care.

The expanded clinical service includes a Trauma Case Manager, who coordinates the multidisciplinary approach to patient care, acting as a liaison between the various health care professionals.

The annual appointment of two Trauma Fellows ensures ongoing trauma research and an evidence based medicine approach to trauma care.

The Trauma Residents and Intern, together with the Trauma Fellows, conduct the tertiary survey and coordinate the medical care of the trauma patient, in conjunction with the relevant admitting specialty.

Dedicated trauma allied health staff - Clinical Psychologists; Physiotherapists; Occupational Therapists, Dietician, Speech Pathologist and Social Workers - complete the comprehensive clinical trauma service and contribute enormously to the combined quality care of the trauma patient. The RPH Trauma Service would also like to acknowledge the additional, and very valuable, input from the RPH Pastoral Care Team and the RPH Drug and Alcohol Service.

As Director of Trauma Services, Dr Rao oversees the activities of the Trauma Service and, as a trauma surgeon, is actively involved in the care of trauma patients.

The Trauma Program Manager provides administrative direction to the Trauma Service, assisting the Director of Trauma Services in the implementation of the State Adult Major Trauma Centre at RPH and coordinates data management and quality improvement activities.

The RPH Trauma Registry was originally established in August 1994 and was staffed by two research nurses. The Trauma Registry now consists of four full-time research nurses, a secretary and a Trauma Program Manager, to assist with the growing number of major trauma admissions, as RPH fulfils its role as the designated WA State Adult Major Trauma Centre

Each research nurse comes from an acute nursing background, is an accredited injury coder, and is committed to the provision of accurate and timely data collection and analysis.

The Trauma Registry collects information on all trauma patients who are admitted for at least 24 hours, or who die from their injuries and provides an extensive trauma dataset for trauma-related activities and research.

The Registry is also responsible for many Quality Improvement activities, including Mortality and Missed Injuries Audits, and provides an extensive descriptive annual report on all eligible trauma admissions to RPH.

Trauma Registry data is also used to evaluate patient care and trauma-related hospital initiatives, and assist with strategic and resource planning for both the hospital and the adult state trauma system.

In January 2011, a custom-built, web-based database was rolled out to all the metropolitan tertiary hospital trauma registries, and forms the basis of the newly formed State Trauma Registry.

To complete the picture, an Injury Prevention Research Nurse concentrates on community-focused injury prevention strategies and has established the Prevent Alcohol Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) Program.

This licensed program originated from Canada and involves taking youths through the hospital system, following the path of the major trauma patient, with a focus on assessment, changing, and evaluation of attitudes towards risk-taking behaviour.

Now in its seventh year at RPH, the PARTY Program has recently been successfully rolled out to Bunbury South West Health Service, as part of the initial phase of a planned rural expansion of the program.

A secretary provides administrative support for this position.